While the main purpose of footwear is to protect and support the foot of a wearer, the ornamental appearance of footwear has always been important. In recent years, it has become increasingly popular, especially among children, to wear special decorations on shoes. These decorations can be ornamental or can enhance the appearance of clothing worn with the shoes.
For many reasons, including economic, any means used to ornament the appearance of a shoe should be easy and expeditious to apply, versatile, and attractive to as many potential wearers as possible.
Therefore, there is a need for a decorative means for use on shoes that is fascinating and appealing to a wide variety of potential users, yet is easy to apply.
In the past, the art has contained many accessories which can be affixed to a shoe to either ornament the appearance of the shoe or enhance the operation of the shoe. However, many of these items require some sort of interengagement between the item and the shoe or some portion of the shoe. For example, the elements disclosed in patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,650,399, 3,473,198, 4,999,888, 5,402,589, 5,459,947 and Des 308,283 are fixed to a shoe by interengaging with the laces of the shoe. Interengagement with the laces may make it difficult for a child to fix the item to the shoe, and may make it somewhat difficult to change the item if desired. Furthermore, if the item requires interengagement with the laces of the shoe, the item may not be amenable for use on shoes that are closed by other means, such as by means of hook-and-loop fasteners. This restriction limits the versatility of the item and may tend to wear out the laces in some instances. Other items that are known in the art, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,229,940, 2,022,554, 5,042,119, 5,671,517 and 5,566,477 are primarily intended to protect the laces of the shoe, and thus suffer from the same problems as just discussed.
Therefore, there is a need for a decorative means for use on shoes that is fascinating and appealing to a wide variety of potential users and does not require interengagement with a portion, such as the laces, of the shoe.